1) 46th Student Film Festival – 4 programs for
National competition + 10 programs for International competition. 46eFestival duFilm Étudiant-4 programmes pour la compétition
nationale+ 10programmes pour la
compétitioninternationale.2)Focus on Chinese cinema of today / Focus surle cinéma Chinoisd'aujourd'hui3) Tribute to
celebrated British producer David Puttnam (born 1941). He will receivethe highest awardof the Festival, the Grand Prix of the
Americas.Five films he has produced will be screened under
the stars.

A run-down of all the films seen at this
year’s festival. As time permits a more elaborate critique (features only) will
appear under the label “Film Box-Office.” They will be identified with the
WFF2015 logo. Updates will appear on a frequent basis (hopefully once a day) so
please visit frequently.

Twenty-something Cédric is devastated when
his girlfriend dumps him on the metro platform. When he returns to their shared
apartment he leaves in a state of fury, taking only his unfinished novel. Fate
brings him to the boarding house of Isabelle, a 76-year-old former star pianist
and faded beauty. To maintain her sense of youthful beauty and self-worth,
Isabelle has surrounded herself with a bevy of young eccentric male boarders
who ‘adore’ her. Cédric and Isabelle become entangled in a bizarre ‘love-hate’
relationship. As with his first feature, this is a meaningless meandering drama
about lost souls seeking love.

After 50 years of
being separated from her first love, Michael, Anne summons up the courage to go
the reunion of her high school. She wants to apologize and try to rekindle the
romance. He is not there. She goes to see him the next day at the residence he
is staying. He is a war hero who suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Ellia has been living an anonymous life in Melbourne ever since the
tragic death of her twin brother Adam many years ago. Her only link to her old
life is her father, Robert, and their shared love of wine. When Robert is
killed in a freak accident, Ellia returns to the family vineyard to attend his
funeral, finding the family fractured and the vineyard seriously in debt. Robert’s
death is ruled a murder. His wife Sophie is the prime suspect and is arrested.
Angered and confused, Ella decides to stay to find out what really happened to
her father.

At the end of World War I, Poland
was reborn as an independent state after having been partitioned between the
empires of Russia, Germany and Austria. This film is an unconventional
retelling of the only successful Polish uprising of its history – mixing
psychic fantasy with fact. A group of clairvoyants, committed to restoring Poland’s
independence, have gathered in a hotel room for a special séance. They are
pooling their powers to save Jan Paderewski, the legendary pianist who was considered the
symbolic leader of the Wielkopolska Uprising. Dr. Abuse has been hired by the Prussians to
negatively influence Paderewski.

Anya is unable to accept the death of her lover. Her attempt to join
him is interrupted when a rooster smashes through the window, entering her
apartment. In her eyes, the rooster is the spitting image of her lover. This
leads to hilarious situations as she tries to convince those around her that it
is – even to the point of trying to get a marriage certificate.

The Bergers are on their way to their vacation destination, when the
husband starts speeding. Arriving insomewhere in Austria, he stops in the town square. The next morning is
market day, and he is asked to move his car. He stubbornly refuses to do so,
even with police presence. His wife is frustrated – is this the end of their
marriage?

Emo finds out that his girlfriend, Vera is pregnant and doesn't know
who the father is. He decides to embark upon a journey to the land of his birth
– the land of the ‘kurai’ (the tumbleweed). It is an unfamiliar land with
unfamiliar rules – one of which is to ‘listen’ to the kurai as it reveals its
secrets. Along the way, he will encounter many characters who will tell him
their stories of the kurai, bringing him closer to understanding their riddle.
The film is a modern myth that explores the search for the meaning of life and
love.

Today’s technology is dependent on an adequate supply of copper, coltan
and many other minerals. The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to one the
richest seams of these minerals. The multinationals are willing to fund the
deadliest war since the Second World War (over five million lives lost since
1996 with the body count continuing to rise. The billions of dollars made from the
exploitation of these minerals haven’t benefitted the Congolese people at all. The
film powerfully exposes this geological scandal. What can be done to stop it
before it is too late (if not already so)?

Michael Clarke knows that his Colby, is gay,
yet he prefers to ignore that aspect of his son’s life. Colby hatches a plan to
trick his father to go on a camping trip with Rusty, his boyfriend. Colby tells
his father that Rusty is straight and that they plan to open a restaurant
together. Colby is convinced that his father and his boyfriend will get along. I
found the acting somewhat emotionally inappropriate especially that of the
director who played the role of Rusty. He had an annoying smirk even when his
dialogue was of a serious nature.

Brandon is preparing for his duties as bartender for a wedding
reception when a young woman walks in and makes a beeline for the bar. He
immediately gives her a martini. She orders two more and reveals that she is
the sister of the bride and that her name is Sarah. She also tells Brandon a
secret that if revealed would have adverse repercussions. Brandon finds himself
being dragged deeper and deeper into the family drama. A character-driven drama
exploring more than just the bride and groom as it reveals secrets that can
only be told to the bartender.

Roya has been playing
the role of 'Nandini', the central character of
Rabindranath Tagore's play 'Red Oleanders', for 12 seasons. This is her final
season. 'Nandini' represents the epitome of Bengali womanhood. She is a young
woman who disregards society’s conventional attitudes towards women and seeks
her own happiness. Roya’s husband wants her to quit being an actress and have a
child. Her mother wishes the same. Meanwhile, a renowned producer asks her to
remount 'Red Oleanders' and make it pertinent for today’s audience. Real life
and stage are ‘under construction’ as Roya embarks upon her own psychological
journey.

In 1596, Spitsbergen, an island in the Svalbard archipelago, was
discovered by William Barents. Situated in the northernmost point of Europe, it
is now under Norwegian control. The 12th century Russian Pomors
called it Grumant. Every year during the six months of the polar night, Barentsburg,
a Russian mining community, the coal mines are worked six days per week, with
New Year’s Day and the sun emerging to end the polar night as holidays, despite
its forbidding and harsh environment. It has been dubbed ‘Island of Communism’
due to it being a cashless society and a statue of Lenin.

Can one truly breakaway from a darkened
past and finally find a place he can truly call home and a family he can truly
call his own? When Cotton Welles is accepted by widower Clay Peakes, who runs a
horse ranch and is raising his young daughter Emily, he hopes that he can
finally do so. But his past does catch up to him when he is handed a flyer –
his predatory evangelist mother has tracked him down and wants him back in the
flock at any cost. He has a gift – the power of healing animals and man.

Three brothers spend the evening
together conversing around the kitchen table in the home where they grew up and
where two of them still live. At first, it seems like a normal family gathering
but the dysfunctionality between the three and their superficial insecurities, soon
becomes apparent. Too much of a ‘home movie’ (the Dabijas are personal friends
of the director) for my taste – nothing significant or of interest for the
public.

Belgian painter Philippe Vandenberg (born 1952) died in his apartment in
Brussels. On June 29th 2009, while watching ‘Last Tango in Paris’, he
had made the decision to leave this world. Afterwards, his son, Guillaume,
returns to the center of the drama.

Japan is the only country that has suffered a nuclear attack –
Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. After the devastating
earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that struck in March of 2011, Japan once
again had to face the threat of contamination through radiation. When the
nuclear power plant at Fukushima exploded, thousands of people were forced to
evacuate. This film not only examines the effect on physical health but the
psychological effect as well. The dream of bountiful energy has become Japan’s
worst nightmare.

This experimental Kafkaesque film tells the story of a man waking up in
a field – bruised, beaten and groggy – who cannot remember how he got there or
who he is. Over the next 24 hours, the man struggles to discover who he is and
why he is in the situation he is in. Through those he encounters, he begins to
slowly piece it together. He quickly discovers that his name is Farhad; that he
is involved in a shady drug deal; that his house burned down five days earlier
and that this routine has been repeated daily since then.

This very unnerving film exposes an extreme level of injustice,
corruption, hypocrisy, inhumanity and refusal to accept responsibility; blaming
an innocent victim instead. Honorine has been separated from her husband and
two children. She is incarcerated and charged with murdering the 17-year-old son
of a plantation owner, who is doing everything in his power to make her pay for
her ‘crime’ by making her life in prison ‘a living hell.’ Her husband and two
children are suffering as well. Their only hope is an honest
judge surrounded by honest associates – hard to find in such a corrupt society.

Mile, Fedr and Zekir have
been friends for a very long time. All are in their fortys, but are still
holding on to their youthful activities. Often short of cash, they often need
to dig into their pockets just to buy a coffee. Fedr’s aunt passes away and
leaves her sowing boutique to him. They decide to reopen the space as a
pizzeria. Business is slow at first, but Jana, a mysterious wandering customer,
inspires them to offer an original service – “Order a pizza, plus whatever
makes you happy and we will make it happen.” A hilarious situation comedy.

A small seaside village, once
famous for its hairtail fishing industry, is now a shell of its former self.
Many of the villagers have left. The three remaining eligible women – Jae-kwa,
Yoo-ja and Mi-ja – compete amongst each other to catch the eye of Joon-seoh,
the only eligible bachelor left, who still continues to fish. Jae-kwa dreams of
enriching her family by raising pigs. This isn’t as easy as she imagined: her
father – always drunk; her mother – rumoured to be having an affair; her
brother – always getting beat up; the pigs – wandering off and getting stuck in
a rut.

This hour-long television
documentary is an exploration of the career of Orson Welles (1915-1985). He is
considered to be among the most innovative directors, writers and producers in
theatre, radio and cinema. His first film, ‘Citizen Kane’ (released when he was
only 24), still ranks as one of all-time greatest films. Wells, through
audacity and ‘ignorance’ had boldly reinvented the language of the 7th
Art. This film addresses the question as to why he was unable to finish any
other film since Citizen Kane. It is an excellent introduction to this 20th
century genius.

Sin desperately wants to
withdraw from her addiction to heroin but she doesn't want to do it in the
cold, grey and inhuman environment of a detox centre in Frankfurt, Germany. After
she separates from her boyfriend Leon, she encounters her best friend Illy.
Together, they plan a trip to a Greek island. But there are many obstacles in
their way. The first is money. Sin gets the needed money by selling blank prescriptions
stolen from her father’s office. The next is passports. Sin has hers but Illy
needs to pass through her alcoholic mother to get hers...

In 1931, Soviet filmmaker
Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) travels to city of Guanajuato in Mexico to shoot
his next film to be entitled ‘Que Viva Mexico.’ While there, he has a sensual
experience that will become a significant turning point in his life and his
career. He loses his virginity in a brief affair with his guide and chaperone Jorge Palomino y Cañedo. As with his other
films, Greenaway (as if in a dream) paints a fantastical, erotic (often graphic scenes of sexuality and nudity) and
extravagant picture of Eisenstein; resulting in a well-researched factual film
containing many experimental elements.

A portrait of three bicycle
messengers – Caroline, Raph and Matila – in the city of Lausanne, who are at an important crossroad in their
lives – do they move on to a more productive and safer career or do they stay
on, indulging their passion for unbridled liberty? An intimate look at this
often misunderstood and ignored segment of society. Yet this film addresses
universal issues that affects all of us in our lifetimes – does one become too
old for certain activities begun in our youth.

It’s scouting day for the
Dynamics High School baseball team. There is a bit of confusion as to who the
professional scout is here to see. The scout is interested in Byung-hoon, the
pitcher, but the coach is promoting Syng-jun, the batter.

Lucas, a young aspiring yet
modest Jewish lawyer, has a penchant for detective mysteries. Taking a break in
a café, he meets Barbara. She seems perfect – sexy, independent with ‘good
taste’ in literature (she’s reading his favourite author). She goes home with
him on their first date. The next morning, Lucas wakes to find that not only
has she left, but that his financial savings are gone as well. Utilising his
penchant for detective mysteries, Lucas begins to piece together the puzzle of
this theft. He soon realises that a ‘close ally’ may be one of his biggest
foes.

The Godfrey Global
Inventory Company is closing its doors for good. The company’s owners, the
enigmatic Mr. Godfrey and his overbearing sister, Esther, invite their four
employees – Janet, Mort, Jason and Misty – to a ‘farewell party.’ Attendance is
mandatory, if they want to receive the ‘final’ paycheque plus a bonus. After
some party games, they are told that there is one final ‘inventory’ that must
be processed and completed by dawn. During this night, strange paranormal
happenings begin to occur; indicating an unholy cataclysmic result is about to
come. Who/what is Mr. Godfrey and Esther? Who will survive?

After being in Britain for
two decades, celebrated travel writer Bill Bryson has just bought a home in
Connecticut. He intends to retire from writing and spend the rest of his life
at home with his beautiful wife of 40 years. After the funeral of one of his
old friends, he decides to hike the Appalachian Trail (America’s most rugged,
unspoiled and spectacular countryside) – the full 2,200 miles from Georgia to
Maine. Only Katz, an incorrigible Don Juan, agrees to accompany him. Hilarious
situations between Bryson (Redford) and Katz (Nolte) arise when the latter’s
charm gets him into trouble.

With the sensibilities of a
documentary, this film is an exploration of the quickly changing face of
Beijing. Sophie (a young blogger and artist) is having trouble accepting the
sudden departure (due to the visa crackdown on foreigners living in Beijing) of
her best friend. She was to create a cabaret show with him, but now she feels
that there is no point in doing so. How can Sophie make sense of the changes,
the losses and the heartbreaks; and also pay tribute to the streets of Beijing
– whose face is also changing – she loves but can never own?

Pakistan’s first
feature-length animation. The people of the town of Roshan Basti celebrate
annuallythrough song and dance. One
year, the festivities are cut short when Mangu attempts to kidnap a little
girl. She is saved, but Mangu escapes into a tunnel. The tunnel is inhabited by
an evil spirit named Babou Balam. He gives Mangu powers with the condition that
he protects the key to all evil. He returns to Roshan Basti to rule it with
terror and extortion. It will be up to Saadi, Amna and Kami – three
11-year-olds, endowed with special powers – to rescue the town.

Kavita takes care of her
80-year-old infirm father-in-law while her husband Rajiv is at work. She also
works at home, selling cosmetic creams. When the father-in-law needs help, he
bangs on either the bedpost or the side table with a teaspoon. And he seems to
be doing it a lot more recently...

Sofiane convinces his
friends to help him set up a web page consisting of staged violent videos. When
their first video showing an attack on a bus goes viral and becomes a headline,
others begin to send in their own videos. Things quickly spin out of control
when a group of unsavoury characters enter the picture.

Anne
and Thomas are en-route to meet his mother. Being late, Thomas begins to speed;
Anne tells him to slow down, but he doesn’t. Coming from the opposite direction
– an elderly woman is in a rush to get to her destination …

The lives of an eccentric
group of retirees are turned upside down when they are told that Silver Skies,
their beloved apartment complex, has been sold and is being converted to
condominiums. If they want to stay, they will have to buy their unit.
Unfortunately, for most of them, the asking price is beyond their means; thus
many of them will be out on the street. An inspirational comedy that not only
honours the elderly but also shows that we must never give up in fighting for
what is rightfully ours (no matter how old we are).

Adam Matthews, a
31-year-old struggling writer, is about to give up his dream of being
considered among the greats. His first two novels were rejected by the
publishers. Currently working on his third, he lacks the motivation to complete
it. His girlfriend Tracy believes he can succeed and is pushing him to finish
it. One day, while he is in a cafe, a smart beautiful woman named Emma, also
named Death, sits down at his table and tells him he will be a successful
writer; stipulating that he must die before this happens. Adam faces a
momentous decision.

In an alternative Japan, a
series of robots called Labor were designed for heavy industrial work. To
combat the potential criminal use of these robots, the Special Vehicle Section
2 (SV2) division was established. The units were known as Patlabor
(Patrol Labor). But a generation later, due to high maintenance costs, they
have been mothballed. Tokyo is attacked by a group of terrorists using a stolen
high-tech stealth helicopter. The SV2 is called in to neutralize the
threat. Mainly known for anime (example Ghost in the Shell), Oshii carries over
many of the genre’s aesthetics to this live-action sequel.

Every year, usually a month
before the holidays, hundreds of men and women traditionally leave their homes
in Vermont, Quebec and other places. They descend upon the streets of New York
City in their vans to sell Christmas trees. They are affectionately called
‘tree men’ and ‘tree women.’ For the past eight seasons, François leaves his
wife and three children to sell his trees on the corner of West 102nd Street and Broadway. Setting this ‘Christmas’ film apart
from others is its approach – expounding humanitarian ideals that create a
meaningful community far from home rather than business politics.

In an anonymous urban
neighbourhood, a real estate agent (convincingly portrayed by Andrea Vasone)
has staged an illusionary image of perfection. Every day, he compulsively
follows the same routine, recites the same rehearsed promotional speech to
every potential buyer. This compulsive behaviour is a veiled attempt at
maintaining contact with the real world and to fulfill an unexpressed dream of
love. As with most ‘illusions’, reality slowly begins to seep into the picture.
It is a harsh dystopian reality (one that many suburban neighbourhoods are
experiencing to an extent today), lacking in deep interrelationships creating nameless
blank faces.

Film
director Tokita has been unsuccessful in getting a producer to finance his
films for a long time. To make ends meet, he has accepted a teaching job at a
film school in Kyoto. He is also having an affair with Yui, the school’s
secretary. Despite his apparent stability, Tokita is very frustrated and
distressed. Unable to fund his project and complete the script nags him
enormously. One day, he spots Ritsuko, a striking young high school student. He
stalks her; becomes delusional blurring the line between his life and the
script of the film he is working on.

This is Iran’s highest
budgeted production. A grand historical epic that isn’t an actual biopic but a
depiction of the world into which the prophet Muhammad (circa 570-632) was
born; its tyranny and its oppression as seen through his eyes and those of his
protector, Abu Talib. The first of three parts, it spans the period from the
‘miraculous’ defeat of the Abyssinian army, one month before his birth, until
he was thirteen-years-old. The intention of this film is to introduce the
prophet to the world, to bring unity amongst Muslims and to smooth out
religious differences.

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Note / Nota:

July 10, 2016:The beginning of a new and exciting chapter! Nancy Snipper's (a.k.a S.N.) first posting on her own blog: http://sntravelandartswithoutborders.blogspot.ca/********************************************************

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